Connells a Hit in Their Own Realm : Band Without Trendy Look or Knack for Publicity Has Sure Hand With Music

In college-alternative rock circles, the term hit has to be used advisedly. There just aren’t enough people listening to out-of-the-mainstream rock to make a song a hit in the usual pop sense, where an album or single has to sell half a million copies to be deemed a big deal.

Given that qualification, the Connells’ song, “Stone Cold Yesterday,” qualifies as a hit in its own realm. With its brawny, pealing guitars and an immediately hummable melody, the song reached No. 3 this month on the Billboard “Modern Rock” chart, which gauges the popularity of songs on college and alternative-radio play lists.

At this point, having scored its biggest success, a band with a strong careerist drive would probably be following the experts’ cues on how to proceed to even bigger things. The Connells, who play Saturday night at Bogart’s, haven’t lacked for advice on how best to capitalize, the band’s singer, Doug MacMillan, said over the phone this week from a tour stop in Tempe, Ariz.

As MacMillan tells it, the band’s record company, the independent TVT label, thought the Connells’ next video should cater to MTV’s sensibilities. The Connells (the name rhymes with “barbells”) looked at some rough footage shot by outside directors for “Get a Gun,” the song slated for video treatment. Then the band decided that it would rather have an old friend who used to play drums in the band handle the job.

“The video they wanted would conform to what you see in MTV’s basic rotation,” MacMillan said. “It looked homogenized and generic. To me, it doesn’t make sense. We’ve gone through this before with them, things they felt would help us to jump up into a different realm in the business. I don’t think it’s realistic at all. It’s not natural. Most bands like us want to sell a lot of records, but they don’t want to be embarrassed.”

Without a trendy look, no apparent knack for self-promoting or generating controversy among its low-keyed personnel, and no reputation for extremist behavior, the Connells pretty much have to write off the usual extra-musical gambits for enlarging one’s audience. What’s left are a sure hand with pop melodies based on some fertile sources and an ability to convey a sense of wistful yearning and disappointment that has always been appealing among the collegiate set.

Looking through the Connells’ song catalogue, it isn’t hard to find expressions of disaffection. “Hey, get me out of this some way,” starts the refrain of “Stone Cold Yesterday,” the opening track of the band’s latest album, “One Simple Word.”

Along similar lines, the stately, but tough-sounding lament, “Set the Stage,” by the band’s founder and most prolific songwriter, Mike Connell, conveys a profound sense of dejection for a generation lacking in sound prospects:

Well, I’ve been lookin’ to the past, ‘cause I’ve seen the future.

And there’s a sun coming up that won’t last long.

And it’s the roles that I forget that keep me around, I guess . . .

Set the stage, hey , I’ll tell you ‘bout the part we’ll play.

That brand of melancholy may well resonate among collegiate or post-collegiate rock fans whose generation is looking at widespread projections of economic decline, not to mention the more immediate and explosive problems in the Persian Gulf. But MacMillan says the Connells aren’t dark or pessimistic people. It just seems to come out that way when they sit down to write a song.

“When we play live, we have fun,” he said. “I would think that people who know me or Mike would think it’s a side of us that doesn’t really come out in daily life. We’re not brooding.”

Still, MacMillan acknowledges with a chuckle that there is ample pessimism on the four albums the Connells have released since forming in 1984.

“It’s (a side of life) we’re very aware of. Just in traveling, you see so much that is depressing. But you have to deal with it somehow. I’m the type of person who would never dwell on those things. The songs end up being the vehicle for that side of it all. But by no means is it something we dwell upon.”

The Connells’ melodic lift, pop harmonies, and increasingly aggressive guitar style provide some sense of affirmation amid the Angst . One of rock’s great graces is its capacity as an outlet for frustration and pain: if something’s bothering you, make some noise about it, stomp around a bit, and maybe you’ll feel better--or at least feel less isolated.

In some critical circles, the sort of guitar-driven pop the Connells make is viewed as a form that is winding down, a post-Beatles brand of music that has exhausted its possibilities after a 25-year run. MacMillan says he isn’t bothered by the idea that the Connells are going over ground already well-cultivated by rock forbears (Neil Young’s guitar sound, British folk-rock bands and Big Star, the exciting and influential, but pitiably obscure Memphis pop band of the early ‘70s, are among the most prominent sources on “One Simple Word”).

“I think it’s possible to be fresh,” MacMillan said. “People’s personalities and a band’s chemistry can do that. It’s no news that this is a very limited medium. You’ve got three or four minutes to express some feeling or get an idea out. I think it’s always been limited, and the thing that keeps it fresh are the kinds of people who end up doing it.”

The Connells began when guitarist Mike Connell, now 31, was a law student at the University of North Carolina. He recruited two other university students--his brother, David, on bass, and guitarist-keyboards player George Huntley. MacMillan was invited into the band by John Schultz, the ex-drummer, now a Burbank-based filmmaker, who directed the Connells’ new video.

MacMillan, 27, had credentials as a swim team member at East Carolina State, but he never had sung. He has since developed into a solid singer with a sweet--but not saccharine--vocal quality that is a key in making melody the band’s strong suit. Drummer Peele Wimberley rounds out a lineup that has remained intact over the band’s four albums.

To MacMillan, each record has brought a little more success--and that’s incentive enough to keep trying.

“As long as you feel there is some sort of progress, then it makes sense,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be financial, although that plays a part in it. An important part of it for me is we’ve gotten better in our live shows the past year or so. That’s real encouraging, to feel good about the shows consistently. There’s no real disaster nights.”

* The Connells, Naked Soul and the Blessing play Saturday at 9:30 p.m. at Bogart’s, in the Marina Pacifica mall, 6288 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach. Tickets: . Information: (213) 594-8975.

DOGS UNLEASHED: Former T.S.O.L. bassist Mike Roche is scheduled to introduce his new band, Big American Dogs, Saturday at Night Moves in Huntington Beach. Roche reports that guitarists Johnny Blue and Mark Lewis and drummer Chuck Burns round out the hard-rock band. Roche also will take part in a Feb. 1 reunion gig with the rest of the original T.S.O.L. lineup. Billed as L.O.S.T., the band will open for Bad Religion at the Hollywood Palladium. Roche said the initials (which stand for True Sounds of Liberty) have been reversed for legal reasons: Mitch Dean and Joe Wood, leaders of the current, completely revamped T.S.O.L. lineup, now own the rights to the name.

‘MELODY’ LINGERS ON: The Righteous Brothers’ 1990 remake of “Unchained Melody” has been certified as a platinum record, representing sales of more than 1 million. The appearance of the Orange County duo’s original, 1965 recording on the soundtrack of the hit film “Ghost,” set the stage for the successful remake. The new, faithful-to-the-original version of “Unchained Melody” also has been nominated for a Grammy as best pop performance by a vocal duo or group. The Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield, plan to attend the Grammy ceremonies in New York on Feb. 20. Medley won both a Grammy and an Oscar three years ago for his duet with Jennifer Warnes on the “Dirty Dancing” movie theme, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.”